


We Stand Together - A Mystreet Aftermath AU

by Jazbel760 (orphan_account)



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Minecraft MyStreet - Aphmau, Multi, Post-Canon, They recover and then suffer again, aftermath AU, eventual angst, no they won't, will later chapters be loosely based on recent events? Yes, will the GF leave them alone already?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26811460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Jazbel760
Summary: The nightmare is finally over and the crew can leave Starlight. They're going home. But will it really be home? Will anything ever be the same? Of course it won't. They'll have to learn to cope with their new lives and stop looking back, which will become especially hard once the Guardian Forces decide to interfere again. [Warning: that's much later in the story, so you'll have to bear with me]{Characters and backstory are property of Aphmau. I have no set update schedule, but I'll post the already existing chapters once a week to give me time to write the new chapters}
Relationships: Aphmau/Gene, Garroth Ro'Meave/Laurance Zvahl, Katelyn/Travis Valkrum, Kawaii~Chan/Zane Ro'Meave
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	1. Prologue- Channel 11

**Author's Note:**

> Hey kiddos!  
> I would like to apologize beforehand for the short chapter. I usually write on Wattpad (@Jazbel760), so I'm used to writing shorter chapters. I've been trying to write longer chapters, but my style is more chapters that are shorter. So this may seem to have a lot of chapters, but all the text together is about your average 3-5 ish chapter story. I know it starts out slow and a bit pathetic, but I have big plans for this work. If you're reading this, thanks for checking it out <3\. If you notice any grammar errors or have suggestions for future works (or this work, I'm always up for more filler chapters), feel free to comment about them. ~Jaz/Mom

(POV Laurence)

*ring* *ring*

“Hey, Dante, what’s up?”

“Are you at home?”

“Uh…… yes. Why?”

“Turn on channel 11.”

*click*

Did he seriously just hang up on me? Rude. And kinda creepy. Regardless, I follow his instructions, strolling into the living room and snatching the remote from the couch, flicking through the channels till I find the news station. This is probably about the Ultima incident on Starlight. That’s what they show the most nowadays. Pictures appear on the screen as a reporter’s voice drones on in the background.

“These pictures show the individuals who are aiding the Ultima as well as the Ultima himself. If you have any clues on how to contact or capture these criminals, please report it immediately.” Huh. Interesting. I take a closer look at the photos on the screen. The first four seem related, all with brunette hair and brown eyes, all with fluffy brown werewolf ears. The next was almost familiar, as if I should recognize her but I don’t. She had ebony black hair and dark olive skin. Sitting on her head were a set of black ears with white tips. I shift my gaze again. The next six ARE recognizable. Zane, Kawaii-Chan, Kim, and Lucinda as well as Mr. and Mrs. Ro’meave. Wait a second….. I thought that Zane, Kim, and Lucinda went on a camping trip with Garroth. What were they doing on a list of criminals? The last face was almost familiar. He had lucious golden blonde hair and sparkling cobalt blue eyes with very fluffy blonde werewolf ears atop his head. Maybe the names below them might help me remember who these people are.

Aaron Lycan, Melissa Lycan, Derek Lycan, Racheal Lycan, Aphmau Angèl, Zane Ro’Meave, Nana Ashida, Lucinda Mabon, Kim Ostara, Garte Ro’Meave, Zianna Ro’Meave

My head spun. I couldn’t process all this, but I read the last name on the list anyways.

**Garroth Ro’Meave**

No, it couldn’t be. Someone must of made a mistake. He wasn’t a criminal. None of my friends were. Well, maybe Zane. But none of the others would ever break the law. I tried fighting back the tears that were welling up in my eyes, but to no avail. The world spun and my whole body was numb as my heart raced a thousand miles a minute. The weight of what I read shoved me to the ground. My friends were being hunted down by the Guardian Forces. They were in danger. HE was in danger.

That was the last thing I thought before the world went black.


	2. Chapter 1 - Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Kiddos!  
> This is what I meant when I said no update schedule. I planned on posting every Friday if possible, but here we are, Tuesday afternoon, posting chapter 1! I have no self control, but I'm sure you're not complaining about that if you like the story. I checked my inbox, saw a comment, and went "Yeah, I'm just gunna post today instead." I am finally finishing chapter 6, which was supposed to be written and posted in June as a pride month thing but.... yeah. I got in trouble and couldn't get on for a while. But if you want me to post chapters faster, comments are a great way. ~Jaz/Mom

POV: Garroth

Home. We’re going home. But would it really feel the same? 

Of course it wouldn’t. Nothing would ever be the same.

I pull myself out of my thoughts as I hear someone call out to me. I spot Dante’s bright blue hair drifting through the crowd towards us. He smiles when he finally makes it through the crowd. We gather our bags and follow him to his car. 

“Ya know, we really missed you guys. It’s been way too quiet on the street lately. And Laurence has been worried sick about you. He’ll be so glad to see all of you.”

-Timeskip-

“Dante, why are we stopping at this house?”, Lucinda inquired. “Oh, I forgot to tell you! I moved out!”Wow. I didn’t expect that. 

We collect our bags from the trunk and shuffle into the house. 

“I’ll call Laurence and get him to come over.” A pang of worry strikes me. Laurence. It’s been months since I talked to him. I know I should be excited to see him, but I’m more worried than anything. I’m worried he won’t accept me. So much has changed in these last few months. For starters, I’m a werewolf now. Then you add the fact that I was seen as a criminal in the public eye for months and my name still isn’t fully cleared. Plus, there’s footage on the news of me not only killing GF officers, but attempting to kill my friends, too. 

“Garroth! Can you hear me?!” Lucinda’s voice slices through my thoughts. I lift my head and hum a response.

“Oh, thank Irene! We were really worried about you for a minute there. You started spacing out.” Relief spread through the room, and everyone seemed to relax. 

“Oh ... sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What?! Nothing’s wrong! Nothing at all!” Lucinda gives me a ‘ _ you really expect me to believe  _ **_that_ ** ?’ look. 

“Okay, fine. I-I’m scared. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him, I just……. what if… what if he doesn’t want to be around me anymore? I mean… I’ve killed people! I’m a-a murderer! And… I….I-“ a small sob escapes my throat. Oh Irene, now I’m crying in front of my friends. Great job not worrying them, Garroth. 

I sink onto the couch, my head in my hands. A pair of arms instantly wrap themselves around me. 

“Garroth-kun, it’s okay. Laurence-kun won’t abandon you. He’s too close to you to do that.”

“Are you kidding? Laurence has been worried sick! The only time he ever goes  **out** is to go to work or to buy groceries. He’s a wreck!”, Dante chimes in, “I’m going to call him. I’ll get him to come over to the house and everything will be fine.”

-Timeskip-

POV: Lucinda

The door creaks open and a messy head of ash brown hair peeked through. He slides into the house nervously and makes his way down the hallway and to the edge of the living room with hesitant steps. Dante waves at him from the edge of the room. 

“Hey, what’s going on? Why did you call me here? I-“ Laurence’s eyes widen as he enters the room fully, spotting us seated wherever there was an empty spot. He scans the room with teary eyes and his gaze lands on Garroth. He does a complete 180. His posture straightens up (well, let’s face it, how straight can this boy really be?) and his face lights up like a Christmas tree. He races forward, nearly tripping on my foot, and leaps on top of his (totally just platonic) best friend. They crash to the floor (ouch, that looks like it hurt) but don’t seem fazed by it. Laurence is a sobbing mess and Garroth’s tail is a blur. Cute. Kinda cheesy, but cute. And then they stay there, holding each other. And they stay there a bit more. Okay, that’s it, I have places to be and things to do. I inhale deeply and clear my throat much louder than necessary. They immediately scrabble away from each other and I choke back a laugh. They help each other up and stand in very awkward silence. I hear someone behind me take a deep breath and turn to see Dante stealing glances at each of us. 

“What happened?”


	3. Chapter 2 - Nightmares

(POV: Laurence)

My eyes flutter open and I groan. What time is it? I reach over, slapping my hand repeatedly on the bedside table before finally grabbing my phone.  Unfortunately, I make the mistake of turning it towards me before turning it on. I yell as the light sears my eyes and try to blink away the blindness. Finally, I was able to see again. I glance back at the phone. 12:15? Really? I sigh. Well, no use trying to sleep now.

I sit up and throw my feet over the side of the bed. DAMN the floor is cold! I shuffle into the hall nonetheless. I pause in the hallway. Why am I hearing…..noises? I creep towards the source of the noise, Garroth’s room. It sounds like…. crying? I slowly inch the door open and stick my head inside.  Garroth is covered in blankets, his back against the headboard, curled up, crying. 

“Hey. What’s wrong?” I open the door and step inside, closing it behind me. Garroth’s head shoots up and he snuffles, rapidly wiping away his tears. 

“Oh….h-hey, Laurence. Did I…. wake you up? I’m s-sorry for that.” I sigh and walk over to him, sitting down next to him.

“You didn’t answer my question, Garroth. What’s wrong?” 

He turns his head, refusing to look me in the eyes. “I-It’s nothing. Don’t w-worry about it.” I sigh and lay my hand on his shoulder, causing him to glance my way.

“For starters, it’s obviously not nothing. You can’t hide that from me. And…. you do realize that telling me not to worry about anything makes me worry about it more, right? Please, if you won’t tell me what it is, at least tell me how to help.” I squeeze his shoulder. He takes a shaky breath and…. starts sobbing. He turns towards me (finally) and buries his head in the crook of my neck, wrapping his arms around me. We sit there for a while, just holding each other. 

“Stay.” I barely hear him, seeing as his face is still covered by my neck and chest. 

“Of course.” I lean my head against the headboard and close my eyes, focusing on my rapidly beating heart and the warmth of our hug. At some point, I don’t know when, I doze off into a blissful sleep. 


	4. Chapters 3 and 4

######  _ Chapter 3- Crazy News Stories _

“Hello, folks, my name is Harley Adams and I’m here today with the full Ultima story.”

“This all began over 25 years ago with Terrance Valcrum, warlock and alchemy teacher at Phoenix Drop University, who sought to make a potion that would last forever. Undoubtedly, he ultimately succeeded. Many years later, Mr. Valkrum and some associates met on Starlight Wonderland Resort with motives still unknown. At this time, the Lycan family also arrived. As the Ultima began his killing spree, Mr. Valkrum and his associates unleashed ‘Forever Potions’ onto friends of the Lycans and Guardian Forces officers alike. After the initial attack by the Ultima, a battle between the Ultima and Terrence Valkrum’s ‘puppets’ ensued. Both Terrence and the Ultima were killed as a result of the battle. The victims of the controlling potions have all been released unharmed and without charges. We were unable to interview any of the victims.”

“And now, the weather.”

######  _ Chapter 4- They’re Home _

(POV: Laurence)

I watched Garroth pace Aphmau’s living room, where we were all gathered, waiting for Dante to come back from the docks with Travis and Aph. His tail was low and his ears kept twitching. Every so often he would turn his gaze towards the window and his eyebrows would furrow. I kept thinking of the past week with him. After the other night, we seemed to be closer than ever before. I sighed subconsciously.

“So…. you just gonna keep staring at your boyfriend?” I jolted from my thoughts as the low, purring voice somehow found a way to pull me out of my thoughts. 

“W-what?! Lucinda! He’s not…. we’re not…. NO!” I managed to splitter out as I smacked my ‘friend’ on the shoulder. My head felt as if it had been shoved in an oven. She just rolled her eyes at me. 

“Puh-lease! Everyone can see that you two have a thing for each other. It’s honestly so annoying to see you dancing around each other like that!” She intensely glared at me. I muttered a ‘shut up’ before standing and stomping away, arms crossed. Luckily, that was the moment Dante walked in. 

Everyone was excited to see Aphmau and Travis, obviously. We all fought our way over to them and instead of waiting for our turn to greet them like normal people, we just piled into this group hug of sorts. We only stopped our crazy mob when Aph started complaining that she couldn’t breathe. I noticed Gene hovering in my hindsight. What was he doing? If he wasn’t here to greet them, why did he come? 

I’ve never trusted Gene. I know that ‘everyone deserves a second chance’ but I couldn’t bring myself to trust him. Not after high school. And there he was, rushing up to give Aphmau a bone-crushing hug. He was shaking slightly and whispering something to her. 

_ Wait a second. _

_ He’s doing  _ **_what now_ ** _?! _

It’s not like I’m jealous. I don’t like Aphmau anymore, except maybe as a sister. I’ve….. moved on to someone else. Let’s change the subject. 

We spend the rest of the day catching up, eating lunch, just being around each other. Gene keeps staring at Aphmau and my brother instincts are kicking in. Travis is pretty much glued to Katelyn’s side. It’s already dark by the time we all decide to go home. I join Garroth on the couch to watch a movie. We sit in comfortable silence for a while, but he seems a bit worried. 

“Hey. You alright?”

Yeah…. I’m just worried about Aph. She’s all alone in her house and has no one to help her cope with the trauma.”

“Hey,” I reach out and place a hand on his shoulder,”She’ll be fine. She’s tough. And we’re all here for her. She just needs to call us.” He nods and squirms closer to me. I smile and return my gaze to the TV.


	5. Chapter 5- Don’t Forget

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey kiddos!  
> So this was most of my Wattpad readers' favorite chapter. It has the most votes, at least. It's a bit rough at the beginning but it gets way better when it switches to Gene's POV. Fun fact: his reactions to Aphmau are based loosely on how I felt when I first had a crush on my girlfriend (before we started dating, of course). Also this chapter has my favorite line that I have ever written, so if you're bored you can try and guess what that is. It's probably my longest chapter as well, so you guys can have a break from the short, choppy chapters. Enjoy! ~Jaz/Mom

(POV Aphmau)

It’s been about two weeks since I got back and I’m trying to go back to life like it was before. I got a job at a local Starbucks but I’m trying to find a better paying job seeing as…..I’m the only one paying the bills now. 

Currently, it’s Saturday, one of my days off. I’m sitting on the couch, trying to dissociate myself from my surroundings by watching Netflix. I’m glad my friends cope with the aftermath of Starlight better than I do.

Yet again, my friends all have roommates to share their troubles with. I, meanwhile, am all alone. Well….. not entirely. I have Celestia with me and my friends visit me sometimes. They come by when they can, which is not very often. They’ll visit maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I don’t blame them, though. They all have their own lives. 

Well, now that I think about it, there is one person who visits constantly. Gene. He comes by almost every day to make sure I’m ok, drop off food, or just chat. He really has been helping me off my feet. Zenix joined him last Friday and we spent an hour or so playing video games. I try to stay occupied and out of the house, being at work or the park and, when I do come home, giving myself something to focus on so I don’t break. Everything here reminds me of Aaron. 

My stomach growls at me. I sigh and get up off the couch, heading to the kitchen for lunch. I step into the entrance of the kitchen/ dining room and immediately am hit by a wave of emotion. Memories.

*narrated flashback*

Aaron and I tried making cookies once. Of course, I accidentally knocked flour on his shirt and started a war. There was flour, eggshells and yolks, and chocolate chips all over the place by the time we were done. We spent two hours scrubbing the counters and floors. He had to get on a ladder to get some mess off the ceiling. 

*flashback end*

I sniffle and try to contain myself. I grab some pizza from the fridge and heat it up while I fight the tears threatening to break through. I grab the pizza and head back to the living room, but I’m already emotionally weakened by the memory from the kitchen. I break. 

*Flashback*

Aaron and I stood in the doorway arguing. That was the night before the Cafe burned down and I blamed him for it. For Irene knows how long afterwards, I just sat on the couch, ate ice cream, watched cheesy romance movies, and cried. 

*end Flashback*

The tears break through, burning as they form waterfalls down my face. I blindly reach for my keys and race out of the house, dropping my pizza on the way out. I rush to my car, not even aware of where I’m going. I just need to get away. I need to forget.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

(POV 3RD PERSON)

A car screeches into the driveway of the house and a woman runs out, sobbing. She rushes up the walkway and knocks violently on the door. A bright orange head of hair opens the door hesitantly, then swings it inwards, grabbing the woman and pulling her inside, shutting the door hastily.

“Aph, hun, what’s wrong?” She asks in a concerned tone.

“Make me forget! I want to forget!” Aphmau shrieks. Lucinda’s face stiffens and she fearfully realizes why her friend is here. 

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“What do you mean you can’t? You’re the best witch I know, make me forget!”

“Aphmau, I can’t. It’s too dangerous. You'll probably forget your whole life. Besides, forgetfulness potions are basically illegal unless you have a government warranted permit.” The ravenette is sobbing, her ears tucked so close to her head that they looked like part of her hair. Her tail hung straight down. Lucinda holds Aphmau as she cries into her friend’s shoulder. She didn’t notice the man in the corner. He watched with a worried gaze, wanting to help but not wanting to give himself away. Unfortunately, Lucinda turned towards him.

“I think I know what can help you.”, she told her friend softly, not looking away from the man in the corner. “You need a distraction.” She glares at the man and he appears split, wanting to help but not wanting his friend to question why he’s here. Lucinda rolls her eyes and decides for him. 

“Gene, why don’t you try to distract Aphmau? I need to finish a potion that is supposed to be picked up tomorrow, so I’m too busy.” Gene glances at her,then Aphmau, and nods slightly. 

“Sure, I’ll take her back to my place, Sasha and Zenix should be home and they’re always looking for more people to beat at some games. C’mon.” He walks out of the corner and down into the main hallway, gesturing for his distraught to follow him. She hesitantly steps out of the house after him and Lucinda closes the door behind them. 

*Timeskip* (POV: Gene)

We decided to take her car, since I had walked all the way to Lucinda’s. She was in no shape to drive, so I climbed into the drivers side. I stole a glance at her. She seemed to be calming down, but I decided not to talk to her. She obviously wouldn’t want to talk about it and if we did strike up a conversation she might ask what I was doing at Lucinda’s house. And the whole reason I walk there is so people don’t ask what I’m doing at her house. Of course, I could always say I was doing little jobs there, but considering my history, people get suspicious easily. 

I’m honestly so relieved that everyone’s back from Starlight. Mainly because I know Aphmau’s safe, but also because now I won’t have to drive to Bright Port every month and go to that shady backstreet potion seller. In highschool, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but a lot has changed since then. 

I pull into my driveway and start to open the door, but I stop and turn to Aphmau. I clear my throat and she looks up. She looks around for a few seconds before realizing she has to get out of the car. We walk up to the porch together and I swing open the door. 

“Hey guys, I’m back! And I brought a guest!” I yell once I close the door. Zenix pokes his head out of the hallway at the top of the stairs. He looks at me, then Aphmau, then back to me.

“Why?”

“Excuse me?”

“I thought you were going to Lucinda’s. So why did you come home with Aphmau?” I stare at him. He stares back. Sasha pushes him out of the way and makes her way down the stairs. 

“Hey, Aph. What brings you here?” The girls smile at each other.

“Oh, uh, Lucinda told me that a distraction would be good for me.” Sasha smirks at me.

“So Gene’s been lowered to a distraction, huh? What a sad life you have.” She snickers and strolls off into the kitchen. Zenix cackles in the background. 

“Dude! You’re red as a tomato!”

“SHUT UP, ZENIX!” (A/N: Waiting for those Heathers comments.)

I shoot a glance at Aph, but she’s not paying attention. Thank Irene. She’s staring at the piano in the corner, which we got with the house. Since it had been covered in trash, the realtor (Mr. Ro’ Maeve) decided he didn't want it. 

“You kept this?” She walks over to the Baby Grand and places a hand on it. 

“Yeah. The Ro’ Maeves didn’t want it. It was covered in trash. Besides, I hadn’t played in a long time.” I amble over to where she is standing. She studies me with a slightly confused expression. 

“You play piano?” A small grin appears on her face. Heat creeps up my neck. Her smile is just…….. AAAARGHGH why is she so perfect? Wait. She’s still waiting for a reply. Ok, try and talk like a functional human.

“Uh…… um…… y-yeah. When I was little, my mom had Dante and I pick up an instrument. He got guitar, I got piano.” Alright, that wasn’t a total disaster.

“ I never would’ve guessed. You really don’t seem like a piano sort of guy” she giggled. Oh no.

Nope. I’m dead. I’m a puddle on the ground. That is the end of Gene. R.I.P. How is it legal for someone to be so perfect? 

She looked at the piano for a few seconds and then whipped back towards me with a huge grin on her face. 

“Teach me how to play!”

“W-what?”

“I’m supposed to distract myself, I want to learn how to play piano.”

“Um…. okay then, I… I guess.” I shuffle over to the piano and take a seat on the bench, motioning for her to do the same. She jumps next to me with an aura of excitement. Holy Irene, how on earth is she so perfect and adorable and….. uuughhh. Why must I suffer like this? I try not to show her my face because it’s probably tomato red at this point, so I shift through one of my older book bags to try and find a beginner’s book. I don’t know why I’m being like this, I’m normally not so awkward. I release a shaky breath, try and prepare myself, and turn back towards the beaming girl. 

“Okay…. let’s start with reading the sheet music.”

-_-_-_timeskip brought to you by ‘this chapter is getting long by my standards’_-_-_- 

“So, you ready to learn a song?”

“Are you kidding? Of course I am!” I know I’ve said it a million times, but this girl is too cute. Her happiness is contagious and I can’t help but smile around her. 

“Alright, let’s start with a C major hand position.” 

“Like this?” A chuckle escapes me. 

“No, that’s a middle C position. Here, C major is like this.” I wrap my arms around her to correct her hand position and then I realize what I’m doing. Oh dear. A laugh chimes from the back of the room.

“SASHA?! H-How long have you been there!?” My roommate laughs mischievously. 

“Long enough to know that Zenix is recording it and we will never let this go. Seriously, you’re being hilariously awkward”

“Sasha. I. Will. Kill. You.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“Gene, what are they talking about.” Holy crap, she is right in my ear. I’m internally screaming and my roommates can obviously tell. I hate them.

“N-nothing! Nothing at all! Let’s get back to the song.” Please let her not question me.

“Alright….”. She looks at the sheet music and I see the gears in her head working to translate it into notes. She begins hesitantly, but eventually gets the hang of it, going slow and steady. And then she messes up a note. I see her cringe. Nope, none of that today, I will not let this angel be sad.

“Hey, everyone makes mistakes. Hell, I’ve been practicing for years and I still mess up when I’m learning a new song. Don’t worry about it.” She gives a faint smile and continues. 

Honestly, I don’t think this day can be any better.


	6. Chapter 6 - "Why Is Everyone So Hot?" "Global Warming"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Kiddos! This was the Pride Month Special that I wrote in June but unfortunately was unable to post on my Wattpad until August or so, but it is the next chapter. I'll try my hardest to get the Christmas chapter out by tomorrow at the latest. Happy Holidays, all of you. I hope you've had fun celebrating whatever you do, and if you don't have winter holidays I hope you're enjoying the cold weather. I know I am, winter in the desert is great. No snow, very cold, but my nose and toes are freezing. Anyways, enjoy the chapter, I apologize for forgetting to update it. ~Jaz/Mom

######  _ Pre-Chapter 6- Group Chat Mayhem _

_ RunBoforetheFangirlsFindYou has entered the chat _

_ PatootOwO has entered the chat _

_ Don’tEven_TryMe has entered the chat _

_ RunBeforetheFangirlsFindYou:  _ Hey, I was thinking we should do something for pride month but I only know that you two are in the community. Little help here?

_ PatootOwO: No problem! _

_ PatootOwO has sent 3 invites _

_ Ultimate~Shipper has entered the chat  _

_ HideYourDoors has entered the chat _

_ Waifu_witha_Knifu has entered the chat _

_ RunBeforetheFangirlsFindYou: Hold up, Garroth? You NEVER told me you weren’t straight?! _

_ HideYourDoors: The subject never came up _

_ Ultimate~Fangirl: Why did you take 5 minutes to respond, hmmm~?  _

_ RunBeforetheFangirlsFindYou: KC NO _

_ Don’tEven_TryMe:  _ KC YES

RunBeforetheFangirlsFindYou: Anyways, let’s get back on track. We should make plans for June. I was thinking we could meet up and just hang out and play games and stuff?

Don’tEven_TryMe: Sounds good, just don’t trust Lucinda with the snacks

Waifu_witha_Knifu: Aww, come on, Katelyn! Why not?

Don’tEven_TryMe: Um, because we always turn into some sort of animal when we do?

Ultimate~Fangirl: Kawaii~Chan can handle the snacks!

HideYourDoors: Great! You guys could all come over to our place. We’re free on Saturday

PatootOwO: Great! I’m bringing Pocky

HideYourDoors: APHMAU NO

PatootOwO: APHMAU YES ÒwÓ

**-PatootOwO has opened a new chat-**

PatootOwO: So this is basically going to be operation Garrence, right?

Don’tEven_TryMe: Absolutely.

Waifu_witha_Knifu: Obviously

Ultimate~Fangirl: Of Course! It’s Kawaii-Chan’s new OTP

PatootOwO: Too bad Cadenza and Vylad couldn’t be here, they pretty much run the S.S. Garrence

Don’tEven_TryMe: We can handle this just fine! Operation Garrence is in motion!

* * *

######  _ Chapter 6- “Why is everyone so hot?” “Global Warming.” _

(3rd person POV) *It’s the only one I’m good at*

Kawaii~Chan rushed through her kitchen, setting various treats into bags and placing them in a basket while throwing any and all dishes into the sink to be washed later. She hummed softly to herself as she closed the basket, picked it up, and headed out of the kitchen. 

“I’m leaving now!”, she yelled over her shoulder as she grabbed the keys and opened the door. A faint ‘Have fun!’ Could be heard from the living room before she shut the door and struggled to find the house key one-handedly. 

She sighed as she readjusted the basket in her arms. Katelyn had specifically said no magic was to be used in Operation Garrence™️. Both Lucinda and herself had objected but eventually gave in. After all, Katelyn had been dubbed captain of the “S.S. Garrence”. It was only fair, seeing as no one had shipped them as long as she had. Except maybe Vylad. But Vylad wasn’t here, so that didn’t matter. 

Aphmau had pulled some strings and managed to convince the boys to have the little get together at their house. Mainly because it would be easier to pull off their plan, but Kawaii-Chan thought that there was an ulterior motive. The only other place they could have it without kicking someone out of their house temporarily was Aphmau’s house, and Kawaii-Chan had the feeling that she didn’t want to clean up afterwards (or beforehand). 

So as she walked down the street to her friends’ house, she went over the plan in her head. It wasn’t much of a plan, really. All they had to do was get the guys to flirt with each other  _ once again _ and then make them realize that friends don’t flirt with each other (not that Katelyn and Aph could say anything about that). It seemed simple enough. 

Moments later, they were all positioned around Garroth and Laurence’s living room, draped over the coffee table, the arm of the couch, or really anywhere except the couch itself (with the exception of Aphmau, who was laying down and taking up the whole thing). The bag of snacks had been unceremoniously plopped in the middle of the table, along with various drinks. Laurence was fiddling with his phone for a bit, before some random pop song started playing quietly through the speaker. He set the phone on the table and plopped down on the floor next to his roommate after snatching an apple strudel. Garroth looked at the pastry, then Laurence, then back to the pastry. The brunette snorted.

“You know there’s more on the table, right?”

“But they’re sooooo far away!” Garroth stretched his arms out towards the coffee table dramatically but his fingers stopped a few inches from the bag. Laurence chuffed and pushed his friend, who lazily tipped over onto his side. He turned his neck to look his offender in the eye, pouting. With a sigh, Laurence climbed over the table and grabbed another strudel, chucking it straight at Garroth’s face. The blonde broke out into a grin and popped up again, nearly knocking his head into the other boy.

“Garroth, you are the laziest person I know.”, Lucinda claimed from her spot on the other side of the wooden table. Katelyn snorted.

“I don’t think you can talk, Lucinda. You spend most of your time sleeping.” The witch responded with a squawk and a glare at the entire group, who were all giggling. Aphmau sighed from the couch and flopped onto her side to face everyone. 

“So… what’s first?” They exchanged glances. No one had thought this far ahead. But Nana perked up with a smile. 

“Who was the first peron that made you realize you weren’t straight?” Everyone hummed considerately and the room was silent for a minute, with the exception of the music in the background. Katelyn answered first.

“Being completely truthful here, Aphmau.” Everyone muttered a bit. It wasn’t that surprising. Garroth chuckled and rolled his head back, leaning it on the back of the couch. 

“If we’re being honest, Gene.” Laurence half-screeched and flipped around, losing his balance mid-turn and tumbling onto the ground. Everyone else stared at their friend in shock. He looked up.

“What? I didn’t say I’d want to be with him, I just said that he was cute!” Laurence gasped and held his hand up to his chest, blubbering. Garroth stared at him for a few seconds before bursting into a fit of giggles. Nobody noticed Aphmau in the background agreeing with her friend’s statement. They were all focusing on the way Laurence had stopped spluttering and was staring at the sight before him like somebody had just handed him the world. Nobody moved. This was it. This was the moment the boys would finally stop ignoring the obvious feelings for each other.

But Laurence snapped himself out of it when Garroth stopped laughing and stared at him again with an amused look. 

“I think it’s your turn to answer the question.” Laurence went pale. He blinked a few times, opening and closing his mouth a few times. 

“Oh my Irene, you look like a fish. Just tell us already! There is no way you could embarrass yourself after what Garroth said.” Katelyn stretched across the couch and nudged him in the head with her foot, almost falling off the couch arm. The blubbering boy muttered something under his breath. Everyone stared at him with deadpanned gazes. He took a breath and tried again. 

“Itwasasubstituteteacherinsophmoreyear.” 

“Excuse me?”

“It… It was a… a substitute teacher. In sophomore year. There was a homeroom substitute and… and he was really cute and...” Everyone went silent. Then someone snickered. And someone else chuckled. And they all burst out laughing. Laurence took his eyes off the floor to gape at them. It took a few minutes for them to calm down. Kawaii-Chan, Lucinda, and Aphmau all shared their people (a classmate, collage roommate, and Starbucks barista respectively) and they moved on. They switched between activities, starting with a few rounds of Uno (by the end of which everyone had either a sore throat from screaming or a hard time breathing because of laughing) and ending with a movie. After much consideration, they decided on The Old Guard. They didn’t have popcorn, which was a bit distressing, but they had KC’s sweets, which were better anyways. The girls insisted that Garroth and Laurence shared the couch, even though Aphmau managed to squeeze herself into the right corner (perks of being tiny), so Katelyn, Lucinda, and Kawaii-Chan took a bunch of pillows and blankets from the bedrooms and settled down on the floor. 

By the time the credits rolled, the sun was going down and everyone was stuck in a state of shock from the cliffhanger. Lucinda got up first, complaining that she should get some sleep while she could before she had to work. Then Kawaii-Chan and Katelyn left, seeming to suddenly remember that they were supposed to get home for whatever reason. Aphmau stuck around for a minute longer, but eventually she left too. The boys knew that they should probably clean up and go to bed, but at some point during the movie they had ended up cuddling and neither of them felt like moving. So they stayed where they were, Garroth’s head in his roommate’s lap, and turned on another movie. And by the time the entire room was lit only by the TV screen, Garroth was dozing off, soothed by the fingers running through his hair and scratching the base of his ears. He probably would've fallen asleep, too, if he hadn’t heard something. 

You see, the perk of being a werewolf is that you have enhanced hearing, which is useful more often than you think. If Garroth had been human, he doubts he would have heard the faint mumbling from his best friend.

“Oh Irene, I love him so much.”

It was quiet even to him, so to normal ears it probably would’ve sounded more like an exhale. But regardless of how loud it was, he heard it. So he turned his head and looked up at Laurence. He was already staring back at him, but he obviously didn’t think Garroth knew he was staring, because he jumped when their eyes met. He seemed to brace for something bad, because he stiffened up and his arms curled in on himself a little bit. But Garroth just sat up, never breaking eye contact. Then he thumped his head down onto the other’s shoulder. He adjusted his position a bit, snuggling further into Laurence. The boy seemed to be trying to figure out what was happening. He was still frozen in place. Garroth guessed he owed him an explanation.

“You know I can hear like, twice as good now, right?”, is what he whispered. He opened his left eye to glance up at his friend, who looked like a deer in headlights. So he closed his eye and tilted his head down again. 

“You’re not very comfortable when you’re all tense like this.” he mumbled into the base of the other boy’s neck. That seemed to do the trick. The brunette let out a deep breath and relaxed again, wiggling a bit to wrap an arm around Garroth. He leaned his face into the blonde hair in front of him, closing his eyes, breathing deeply. He smiled to himself a bit. This definitely wasn’t how he expected his night to go, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. 


	7. Chapter 7 - Colds? Children? Invasive Little Brothers?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey kiddos! I stayed up late last night finishing it and copying it from the doc to Wattpad but didn't have time to upload it on here because I had to sleep. Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it. Otherwise, Happy Holidays, whatever they may be. Or, if you don't celebrate winter holidays, I hope you're enjoying the season. I will say that the beginning of the chapter is a bit rough, but if you bear with me or even just skip that part if you don't want to read it, it gets much better. It's a LOT of dialogue, and I've been experimenting with longer chapters to see if that makes any of my Wattpad stats go up. Anyways, Enjoy the chapter! ~Jaz/Mom

(3rd person POV) *6 month timeskip*

Winter was always fun. Besides the cold, of course. But nobody really minded the cold, save an extremely grumpy Zane. That’s why they were all gathered out in their yards, setting up lights and wreaths and lawn decorations. Usually this was turned into a competition, but this year they were quieter, still smiling but not as rambunctious as previous years. They didn’t have very many decorations to split between them, considering everything was kept in their old houses. But they had enough. In the very least, they would all have lights and door wreaths. Nana and Zane had welcome banners and a mat too, but that was all they could find. Garroth and Laurence improvised, building things out of the snow instead of actual décor. Dante copied them. Katelyn and Aphmau were still very competitive and setting up as many decorations as possible, with a very nervous Travis watching from the sidelines. Lucinda didn’t decorate more than she had too. Almost all of her decorations were for Halloween, which had come and gone without trouble. 

Almost everyone was inside already, heating up over cups of coffee or hot chocolate and plenty of blankets, with the exception of Katelyn and Aphmau, who were still fighting over making their house the most festive. Travis had given up, walking inside with a final “Not my fault if you get a cold!”. The girls had run out of decorations, but were still out simply criticizing each other’s houses. They stayed out there almost half an hour longer than everyone else. 

Turns out Travis was right, because not even a day later Aphmau got sudden chills and was sneezing nonstop. She called in sick to work. Zane and Nana visited often, making sure she was staying warm and taking her medicine. They didn’t let Garroth and Laurence so much as take a step inside the house, not after how they freaked out last time. Zane refused to even consider taking the bag of food Gene dropped off, and Nana had to pull the two apart to prevent them from murdering each other. It had been three days, and Aphmau was recovering, but still fairly sick. She and Nana sat on the couch watching some weird christmas romance movie while Zane was out getting lunch. But it was hard to focus when Nana kept shifting in her seat, tail and ears flicking constantly. After quite a bit of this, Aphmau sighed, setting down her tea. 

“What’s wrong, Kawaii-Chan?” Nana jumped at the sudden question. She gave a little nervous laugh and started fidgeting with the edge of her shirt. Aphmau reached out to place a gentle hand on her friend’s shoulder. Nana shook her head and reached over to her purse, which was laying on the floor near them. She muttered something. Aphmau asked her to speak up. She took a deep breath and mumbled out her sentence a little louder. 

“I don’t know what to do. I mean, I’m excited, but also really  _ really  _ shocked. I just…” she trailed off as she found what she had been looking for. A small, thermometer-like plastic item of one sort or another. Aphmau eyed it suspiciously. Nana held it out for her to look at. 

The damn thing was a pregnancy test. With two lines. 

If Aphmau was healthy, you would have heard her screeches of delight from outside the house. But, unfortunately, she was still sick. So she sounded more like a strangled goose before bursting into a fit of coughs. She slapped the table until she found her glass of hot tea, gulping it down until her throat didn’t feel like a cat was using it as a scratching post. After catching her breath and wiping her watery eyes, she turned back around and pulled Nana into a death-grip hug. She still tried fangirling despite her scratchy voice, which will, one day, end disastrously. 

“Kawaii-Chan, this is great! I can’t believe this.  _ Babies. There will be babies running around the street! _ ”, she whipped out of the hug and gripped Nana’s shoulders, gasping. “Can I babysit? Can I?” Nana seemed shocked by this sudden turn in their day. She wasn’t sure how she expected Aphmau would react, but this wasn’t quite it. She was still on edge though, fidgeting and shifting her weight. Aphmau’s smile faltered a bit when she noticed this. 

“What is it?” 

“Well…… I…… uh… you’re the first person I’ve told about this?” 

“I’m  _ what now. _ ” 

“Well…… yeah. I don’t really know what to do and I thought that maybe you could… I don’t know… help me?”

“ _ Well why did you think that?? I don’t know anything about this!! Go ask your boyfriend for help!”  _

Aphmau continued lecturing Nana and probably would have for a while if she didn’t hear the doorknob twist. She shot her friend one last glare and a ‘you better tell him right now’ look before turning back to the movie. Nana huffed and gathered their cups, striding to the kitchen and meeting Zane halfway there. 

“Hey, can we talk?” 

~~~~timeslip brought to you buy ‘holy crap that was probably the worst scene I’ve ever written, let’s get that over with’~~~~

“We’re doing a what now?” 

“A Secret Santa! Have you never heard of it? Do you live under a rock?” Aphmau is completely recovered and bouncing off the walls, as she is every holiday season. She gathered the whole street at her house for a ‘surprise’. When they arrived, she was sitting in her living room with a cup of hot chocolate, a top hat, and Vylad. She smiled one of her far-too-innocent-to-have-good-intentions smiles and told everyone to sit down as they came in. So here they were, all sitting around a very excited Aph as she explained her holiday plans. 

“It’s easy. You all reach into the hat and pick out a name. Show nobody. You then have to pick out a gift for that person and wrap it without giving any hint that you are the gift-giver and on Christmas Day we each pick our gifts and try to guess who got whose gift. Got it?” She was talking so fast that a few people missed it, but they nodded anyways. One by one, everyone picked a slip of paper from the top hat Aph was waving around. They muttered to themselves as they sat back down. Aphmau smiled another too-innocent smile and waved them off, exclaiming ‘you all need to go plan your gift-buying! Have fun!’. After she successfully got everyone out of the house, she turned with a huff and stared at her own slip. 

“This will be too easy.” 

* * *

“I THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE EASY!!!!” 

“Gene, please, my ears are bleeding.” 

“Shut up, Sasha, you’re just lucky you got Zenix. He’s fairly easy to shop for. But what am  _ I _ supposed to do???? I can’t do this! I can’t! I mean, what if I get her the wrong thing or she just doesn’t like it or it gets damaged or-” 

“Stop freaking out, you lovesick egg. Just get her something simple and sweet. Something that will mean something to the both of you.” 

“HOW DO I DO THAT??????” 

“Okay, fine, I’ll walk you through this, but only if you stop yelling.”

“.......please.”

* * *

_ How the hell am I going to shop for him when I  _ **_live with him_ ** _???? _

This Secret Santa stuff seemed simple until I pulled Laurence’s name from the hat. It was easy enough to shop for him, but how am I going to sneak the gift past him. 

Ah, wait. Vylad. Yes, he’ll definitely help me. Hopefully. He’s staying in the basement anyways. This will go fine. Absolutely fine. 

* * *

“Why?” 

“You have to do it, blueberry, it’s your Secret Santa.” 

“What would I even get her?” 

“Well, she likes the supernatural, right? Why not get her a Ouija board?” 

“Oh, yeah, and let her summon demons on our street, right?” 

Silence. 

“.....I’m sorry, Travis. I didn’t mean it like that. I’ll go buy her that Ouija board. Thanks for helping me.” 

* * *

“Why are we here?” The mall was packed with last-minute Christmas shoppers. Laurence watched them scurry around and shove each other aside from inside the café Vylad had dragged him into. 

“What’d’ya mean? I just wanted to spend time with you. I haven’t seen any of you in forever.” 

“Speaking of, how was France?” 

“It was nice. Shame I didn’t have somebody to go with, though. Would have made the trip way better.” Laurence huffed, eyes still focused on the crowds. Silence fell upon the two of them as they drank their steaming coffees. Vylad clicked his tongue a few times. 

“So, you and my brother, huh?” Laurence choked mid-drink, leaning over to hack his lungs out as the coffee burnt his throat and nose. 

“I-” He stopped for another coughing fit. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.” Vylad stopped mid-sip, staring at Laurence.  _ You can’t lie to me _ , his look read. Laurence glared daggers as he sat up properly, once again picking up his drink. 

“Fine. But let’s not talk about this here. It’s packed.” He stood, motioning for Vylad to do the same. They worked their way out of the crowded mall and into the nearby park. 

“So what’s going on here?”

“I….. it’s complicated. We kinda had a thing happen in June and since then we’ve…… I don’t know. We’re definitely closer. And we do a lot of stuff that…… friends don’t normally do. But we haven’t really addressed it yet. We’re just kinda… leaving it as is. We both know what’s going on and we’re just rolling with it. It’s….. weird.” 

“Then talk to him about it. There’s no risk to it, is there? I mean, June was 6 months ago. I cannot believe you let this drag out that long.” 

“I guess you’re right, I just…… I don’t know. I guess I’m waiting for him to start the conversation.” Vylad hummed a response. He waited a bit for Laurence to continue, but he didn’t. So he took a deep breath and stood, arching his back. He looked around for a few seconds before gasping and motioning for Laurence to follow him as he ran off. 

“Where are you going??” 

“Ice Cream!” 

“Aren’t you lactose intolerant?” 

“That’s never stopped me before!”

* * *

“Who brought the dog?” 

“Hey, look babe, the tag has my name on it!” 

“ **Who brought the dog?** ” Laurence doubled over in laughter, very proud of himself. Katelyn fumed and spluttered as she stared at the mutt in front of her, wrapped in Travis’s arms and squirming in delight. 

“Okay, okay, let’s move on, we have a lot of gifts. We can play with the  _ adorable little pupper in _ a few minutes. Laurence, you obviously got the dog, you’re next.” Laurence smiled at a still seething Katelynas he reached over to inspect the gifts. He ended up pulling out a little box with a green bow bigger than the gift itself. Inside lay a jewelry box, and inside of that a small bracelet. Half a heart with a green gem laid in the metal. Zane snickered as Laurence turned a particular shade of crimson. He muttered something inaudibly and scooted back to his place at the foot of the couch. Nobody came forward to get the next gift. Eventually Aphmau clapped everyone out of the awkward silence. 

“Okay! How about we just pick up the next gift and have it opened? Yeah?” She picked up the first gift on the stack, handing it to Sasha. Then she started passing out all the other gifts too, because it was way quicker than what they were doing right now. 

“Roller blades? Zenix, is this you telling me you want me to go skating with you?” 

“....yes.” 

“Who…… what……..” 

“What’s wrong, Dante?” 

“Who got me a bottle of ketchup and a $50 Amazon gift card?” Travis started wheezing from his spot next to Katelyn, who was staring at her box. 

“Katelyn? What’s wrong?” Katelyn turned her head up at her name, shell-shocked. She slowly held up her gift. A baby blue shirt with bold black lettering that read ‘World’s Best Godmother’. Nana smiled. 

“That was from me.” All hell broke loose. Gifts dropped, breathing stopped, screaming filled the air. 

“What?? Kawaii-Chan that’s great!” 

“I can’t believe this. This is…….. Wow.” Everyone tried speaking at once. The dog ran into the kitchen. It took over 10 minutes of Nana answering questions and soothing her friends to get everyone to calm down. Once they had, she smiled sweetly and thanked whoever got her an expensive electric mixer. Eventually, people began to turn back to their own gifts. 

Then Lucinda stopped breathing. She was staring at her gift intensely. Inside the small box was a single plane ticket and a note that read ‘go see Melissa’ in a neat scrawl. Aphmau gasped, dropping her new book of sheet music. Tension filled the air. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They looked from Aphmau to the ticket to Lucinda. Both girls were tearing up, but no doubt for two different reasons. Lucinda was, most likely, thinking of Melissa, of how that plane ticket was the key to seeing her again, of when she would go and what Melissa would think. Aphmau was, without a doubt, thinking of how that plane ticket would lead her to Aaron, whose location was unknown to her at the moment. But if the ticket led to the city Melissa lived in now, it also led to Aaron. Aphmau thought of him now, everything she loved about him, everything they had been through.  _ All those things he didn’t remember anymore _ . And she knew that ticket would be pointless anyways. Even if she took the plane to wherever it went, she wouldn’t be able to do anything. Aaron had amnesia, it would only hurt her more to see him again. She was vaguely aware of a figure moving in front of her to check on Lucinda and a hand on her shoulder, leading her somewhere else. Up the stairs. A voice in her ear, whispering in a soothing tone. She couldn’t make out words, couldn’t make out shapes or objects in her vision or who was talking to her. Just her own heartbeat and breath, the breath on her ear, and the hand that had moved behind her and was gently rubbing her upper back. 

It stayed like that for a while. Eventually her heart slowed, her breath became steady again, she made out the desk of her spare room (converted into an office) and the words that were being whispered to her. 

“Breathe. You’re doing great. Just breathe. It’ll be okay.” The voice was soft and gentle and full of worry. He seemed to notice her reaction to his words, because he hummed brightly and she could hear his smile when he asked “You with me now?” 

“Yeah” she breathed, “I’m alright, Gene.”


End file.
